Instant Virtual Application Launch

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for persisting a protocol state from a first instance of a virtual desktop application to a second instance of the virtual desktop application are described herein. In some embodiments, a computing platform may establish, by a first virtual desktop instance, a secure session with a virtual delivery agent (VDA), resulting in a protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance. Further, the computing platform may persist, using the first virtual desktop instance, the protocol state. Next, the computing platform may transmit, from the first virtual desktop instance to a second virtual desktop instance, the protocol state. Additionally, the computing platform may authenticate, using authentication tokens comprising the protocol state, a connection between the second virtual desktop instance and a gateway device. Subsequently, the computing platform may re-establish, after the authenticating, the secure session, wherein the secure session comprises a connection between the VDA and the second virtual desktop instance.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of and claimspriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/790,980 filed Feb. 14,2020 which is a continuation application of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/915,203, filed Mar. 8, 2018, and entitled“Instant Virtual Application Launch,” which is hereby incorporated byreference as to its entirety.

FIELD

Aspects described herein generally relate to computer hardware andsoftware, including virtual desktop instances. In particular, one ormore aspects of the disclosure relate to computer hardware and softwarefor reducing virtual application launch times by persisting a protocolstate of a first receiver instance and sharing the protocol state of thefirst receiver instance with a second receiver instance.

BACKGROUND

Enterprise organizations and their employees are increasingly lookingfor ways to reduce connection time for reestablishing a secure sessionusing virtual desktop instances. As virtual desktops are more frequentlyadopted and used, it is increasingly important to reduce connection timeand the computational cost associated with establishing secure sessions.For example, a single secure session may be used to launch multipleapplications. However, such session sharing is not always allowed due tosecurity isolation and/or application compatibility purposes. In anotherexample, enterprise organizations may attempt to reduce launch times byconnecting users to a disconnected session rather than establishing anew session. However, this method still has a high computational costand connection time. There remains an ever-present need to reduce launchtimes of establishing and reestablishing secure sessions via virtualdesktop instances.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify required or critical elements or to delineate the scope ofthe claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

To overcome limitations in the prior art described above, and toovercome other limitations that will be apparent upon reading andunderstanding the present specification, aspects described herein aredirected toward reducing launch time of virtual applications. Forexample, a protocol state of a first receiver instance during anestablished secure session may be persisted and shared with a subsequentreceiver instance. By persisting the protocol state, the subsequentreceiver instance may avoid one or more steps otherwise needed toreestablish the secure session that are computationally expensive.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a computing platform havingat least one processor, memory, and a communication interface mayestablish, by a first virtual desktop instance, a secure session with avirtual delivery agent (VDA), resulting in a protocol state of the firstvirtual desktop instance. Subsequently, the computing platform maypersist, using the first virtual desktop instance, the protocol state.Thereafter, the computing platform may transmit, from the first virtualdesktop instance to a second virtual desktop instance, the protocolstate. In addition, the computing platform may authenticate, usingauthentication tokens comprising the protocol state, a connectionbetween the second virtual desktop instance and a gateway device.Further, the computing device may re-establish, after theauthenticating, the secure session, wherein the secure session comprisesa connection between the VDA and the second virtual desktop instance.

In some instances, the computing platform may cause display, during thesecure session and via a user device, of a user interface. Further, thecomputing platform may transmit, to the VDA, a list of virtual channelsand user device capabilities. Additionally, the computing platform maylaunch, via the second virtual desktop instance and during the securesession, one or more additional session features.

In some examples, the computing platform may launch the one or moreadditional session features in response to transmitting, by the VDA, asession reconnect indication to a plurality of virtual channel (VC)modules associated with the VDA. In addition, the computing platform maylaunch the one or more additional session features in response tolaunching, by the VDA, a plurality of virtual channels associated withthe VC modules. Further, the computing platform may launch the one ormore additional session features in response to determining, by the VDA,the user device capabilities.

In some instances, the computing platform may launch, via the firstvirtual desktop instance, at least one of a web link, a publishedapplication with content, or a new published application via the firstvirtual desktop instance.

In some examples, the computing platform may launch, by the VDA andresponsive to the launching at least one of the web link, the publishedapplication with content, or the new published application via the firstvirtual desktop instance, at least one of the web link, the publishedapplication with content, or the new published application.

In some instances, the computing platform may perform, prior to theauthenticating and by the second virtual desktop instance, a transportreconnect. Further, the computing platform may suspend, by the secondvirtual desktop instance and for a predetermined period of time, networkactivity. Additionally, the computing platform may generate, offline, bythe second virtual desktop instance, and based on the protocol state ofthe first virtual desktop instance, a protocol state for the secondvirtual desktop instance.

In some examples, the computing platform may persist the protocol stateof the first virtual desktop instance by recording, to a stored file, anetwork conversation between the first virtual desktop instance and theVDA, wherein the second virtual desktop instance has access to thestored file.

In some instances, the secure session may comprise a high definitionexperience (HDX) session.

In some examples, the protocol state may comprise an independentcomputing architecture (ICA) protocol state, a secure ticket authority(STA) ticket, and a common gateway protocol (CGP) cookie.

In some instances, the computing platform may perform, using the secondvirtual desktop instance and prior to the authenticating the connectionbetween the VDA and the second virtual desktop instance, a transportreconnect.

In some examples, the computing platform may generate, using theprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance and for the secondvirtual desktop instance, a protocol state for the second virtualdesktop instance, wherein the generating the protocol state for thesecond virtual desktop instance is performed offline.

In some instances, the protocol state of the first virtual desktopinstance may be embedded in the first virtual desktop instance.

In some examples, the first virtual desktop instance may comprise anHTML5 receiver hosted and managed by a cloud service, and the secondvirtual desktop instance may comprise an HTML5 receiver hosted by aclient endpoint and managed by the cloud service.

In some instances, the computing platform may transmit the protocolstate of the first virtual desktop instance by transmitting, from thefirst virtual desktop instance and to the second virtual desktopinstance, an ICA file comprising the protocol state of the first virtualdesktop instance.

In some examples, the first virtual desktop instance may comprise afirst instance of a high definition experience (HDX) softwaredevelopment kit (SDK)-based mobile application, and the second virtualdesktop instance may comprise a second instance of the HDX SDK-basedmobile application.

In some instances, the computing platform may transmit the protocolstate of the first virtual desktop instance by transmitting, via one ofan operating system (OS) key chain or a mobile device experience (MDX)shared secret vault, the protocol state of the first virtual desktopinstance from the first virtual desktop instance to the second virtualdesktop instance.

In some examples, the first virtual desktop instance may comprise afirst instance of HTML5 receiver running in a first browser tab anddisplaying a first HDX application and the second virtual desktopinstance may comprise a second instance of HTML5 receiver running in asecond browser tab and displaying a second HDX application.

In some instances, the computing platform may transmit the protocolstate of the first instance by storing, by the first virtual desktopinstance, the protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance tolocal browser storage and accessing, by the second virtual desktopinstance and via the local browser storage, the protocol state of thefirst virtual desktop instance.

These and additional aspects will be appreciated with the benefit of thedisclosures discussed in further detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of aspects described herein and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative computer system architecture that may beused in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative remote-access system architecture thatmay be used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative virtualized (hypervisor) systemarchitecture that may be used in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative cloud-based system architecture that maybe used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative enterprise mobility management system.

FIG. 6 depicts another illustrative enterprise mobility managementsystem.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative diagram for establishing a remote accesssecure session at a user device.

FIG. 8 depicts an example method for establishing and reestablishing asecure session in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 9 depicts an example method for establishing and reestablishing asecure session via a progressive logon in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 10 depicts an example method for establishing and reestablishing asecure session via an asynchronous launch in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example virtual mobile application launch inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example virtual launch of HTML5 receiverinstances in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings identified above and which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodimentsin which aspects described herein may be practiced. It is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural andfunctional modifications may be made without departing from the scopedescribed herein. Various aspects are capable of other embodiments andof being practiced or being carried out in various different ways.

As a general introduction to the subject matter described in more detailbelow, aspects described herein are directed towards reducing launchtime of virtual applications. For example, a protocol state of a firstreceiver instance during an established secure session may be persistedand shared with a subsequent receiver instance. By persisting theprotocol state, the subsequent receiver instance may avoid one or morecomputationally expensive steps previously needed to reestablish thesecure session.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used hereinare for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof. The use of the terms “mounted,” “connected,”“coupled,” “positioned,” “engaged” and similar terms, is meant toinclude both direct and indirect mounting, connecting, coupling,positioning and engaging.

Computing Architecture

Computer software, hardware, and networks may be utilized in a varietyof different system environments, including standalone, networked,remote-access (also known as remote desktop), virtualized, and/orcloud-based environments, among others. FIG. 1 illustrates one exampleof a system architecture and data processing device that may be used toimplement one or more illustrative aspects described herein in astandalone and/or networked environment. Various network nodes 103, 105,107, and 109 may be interconnected via a wide area network (WAN) 101,such as the Internet. Other networks may also or alternatively be used,including private intranets, corporate networks, local area networks(LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN), wireless networks, personalnetworks (PAN), and the like. Network 101 is for illustration purposesand may be replaced with fewer or additional computer networks. A localarea network 133 may have one or more of any known LAN topology and mayuse one or more of a variety of different protocols, such as Ethernet.Devices 103, 105, 107, and 109 and other devices (not shown) may beconnected to one or more of the networks via twisted pair wires, coaxialcable, fiber optics, radio waves, or other communication media.

The term “network” as used herein and depicted in the drawings refersnot only to systems in which remote storage devices are coupled togethervia one or more communication paths, but also to stand-alone devicesthat may be coupled, from time to time, to such systems that havestorage capability. Consequently, the term “network” includes not only a“physical network” but also a “content network,” which is comprised ofthe data—attributable to a single entity—which resides across allphysical networks.

The components may include data server 103, web server 105, and clientcomputers 107, 109. Data server 103 provides overall access, control andadministration of databases and control software for performing one ormore illustrative aspects describe herein. Data server 103 may beconnected to web server 105 through which users interact with and obtaindata as requested. Alternatively, data server 103 may act as a webserver itself and be directly connected to the Internet. Data server 103may be connected to web server 105 through the local area network 133,the wide area network 101 (e.g., the Internet), via direct or indirectconnection, or via some other network. Users may interact with the dataserver 103 using remote computers 107, 109, e.g., using a web browser toconnect to the data server 103 via one or more externally exposed websites hosted by web server 105. Client computers 107, 109 may be used inconcert with data server 103 to access data stored therein, or may beused for other purposes. For example, from client device 107 a user mayaccess web server 105 using an Internet browser, as is known in the art,or by executing a software application that communicates with web server105 and/or data server 103 over a computer network (such as theInternet).

Servers and applications may be combined on the same physical machines,and retain separate virtual or logical addresses, or may reside onseparate physical machines. FIG. 1 illustrates just one example of anetwork architecture that may be used, and those of skill in the artwill appreciate that the specific network architecture and dataprocessing devices used may vary, and are secondary to the functionalitythat they provide, as further described herein. For example, servicesprovided by web server 105 and data server 103 may be combined on asingle server.

Each component 103, 105, 107, 109 may be any type of known computer,server, or data processing device. Data server 103, e.g., may include aprocessor 111 controlling overall operation of the data server 103. Dataserver 103 may further include random access memory (RAM) 113, read onlymemory (ROM) 115, network interface 117, input/output interfaces 119(e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, printer, etc.), and memory 121.Input/output (I/O) 119 may include a variety of interface units anddrives for reading, writing, displaying, and/or printing data or files.Memory 121 may further store operating system software 123 forcontrolling overall operation of the data processing device 103, controllogic 125 for instructing data server 103 to perform aspects describedherein, and other application software 127 providing secondary, support,and/or other functionality which may or might not be used in conjunctionwith aspects described herein. The control logic may also be referred toherein as the data server software 125. Functionality of the data serversoftware may refer to operations or decisions made automatically basedon rules coded into the control logic, made manually by a user providinginput into the system, and/or a combination of automatic processingbased on user input (e.g., queries, data updates, etc.).

Memory 121 may also store data used in performance of one or moreaspects described herein, including a first database 129 and a seconddatabase 131. In some embodiments, the first database may include thesecond database (e.g., as a separate table, report, etc.). That is, theinformation can be stored in a single database, or separated intodifferent logical, virtual, or physical databases, depending on systemdesign. Devices 105, 107, and 109 may have similar or differentarchitecture as described with respect to device 103. Those of skill inthe art will appreciate that the functionality of data processing device103 (or device 105, 107, or 109) as described herein may be spreadacross multiple data processing devices, for example, to distributeprocessing load across multiple computers, to segregate transactionsbased on geographic location, user access level, quality of service(QoS), etc.

One or more aspects may be embodied in computer-usable or readable dataand/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as describedherein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor ina computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source codeprogramming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or maybe written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to)HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML).The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computerreadable medium such as a nonvolatile storage device. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various transmission (non-storage)media representing data or events as described herein may be transferredbetween a source and a destination in the form of electromagnetic wavestraveling through signal-conducting media such as metal wires, opticalfibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).Various aspects described herein may be embodied as a method, a dataprocessing system, or a computer program product. Therefore, variousfunctionalities may be embodied in whole or in part in software,firmware, and/or hardware or hardware equivalents such as integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like.Particular data structures may be used to more effectively implement oneor more aspects described herein, and such data structures arecontemplated within the scope of computer executable instructions andcomputer-usable data described herein.

With further reference to FIG. 2, one or more aspects described hereinmay be implemented in a remote-access environment. FIG. 2 depicts anexample system architecture including a computing device 201 in anillustrative computing environment 200 that may be used according to oneor more illustrative aspects described herein. Computing device 201 maybe used as a server 206 a in a single-server or multi-server desktopvirtualization system (e.g., a remote access or cloud system) configuredto provide virtual machines for client access devices. The computingdevice 201 may have a processor 203 for controlling overall operation ofthe server and its associated components, including RAM 205, ROM 207,Input/Output (I/O) module 209, and memory 215.

I/O module 209 may include a mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner,optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which auser of computing device 201 may provide input, and may also include oneor more of a speaker for providing audio output and one or more of avideo display device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/orgraphical output. Software may be stored within memory 215 and/or otherstorage to provide instructions to processor 203 for configuringcomputing device 201 into a special purpose computing device in order toperform various functions as described herein. For example, memory 215may store software used by the computing device 201, such as anoperating system 217, application programs 219, and an associateddatabase 221.

Computing device 201 may operate in a networked environment supportingconnections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 240 (alsoreferred to as client devices). The terminals 240 may be personalcomputers, mobile devices, laptop computers, tablets, or servers thatinclude many or all of the elements described above with respect to thecomputing device 103 or 201. The network connections depicted in FIG. 2include a local area network (LAN) 225 and a wide area network (WAN)229, but may also include other networks. When used in a LAN networkingenvironment, computing device 201 may be connected to the LAN 225through a network interface or adapter 223. When used in a WANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may include a modem 227 orother wide area network interface for establishing communications overthe WAN 229, such as computer network 230 (e.g., the Internet). It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used. Computing device 201 and/or terminals 240 may also bemobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), notebooks, etc.) including various other components,such as a battery, speaker, and antennas (not shown).

Aspects described herein may also be operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of other computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with aspectsdescribed herein include, but are not limited to, personal computers,server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network personal computers (PCs), minicomputers, mainframecomputers, distributed computing environments that include any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, one or more client devices 240 may be incommunication with one or more servers 206 a-206 n (generally referredto herein as “server(s) 206”). In one embodiment, the computingenvironment 200 may include a network appliance installed between theserver(s) 206 and client machine(s) 240. The network appliance maymanage client/server connections, and in some cases can load balanceclient connections amongst a plurality of backend servers 206.

The client machine(s) 240 may in some embodiments be referred to as asingle client machine 240 or a single group of client machines 240,while server(s) 206 may be referred to as a single server 206 or asingle group of servers 206. In one embodiment a single client machine240 communicates with more than one server 206, while in anotherembodiment a single server 206 communicates with more than one clientmachine 240. In yet another embodiment, a single client machine 240communicates with a single server 206.

A client machine 240 can, in some embodiments, be referenced by any oneof the following non-exhaustive terms: client machine(s); client(s);client computer(s); client device(s); client computing device(s); localmachine; remote machine; client node(s); endpoint(s); or endpointnode(s). The server 206, in some embodiments, may be referenced by anyone of the following non-exhaustive terms: server(s), local machine;remote machine; server farm(s), or host computing device(s).

In one embodiment, the client machine 240 may be a virtual machine. Thevirtual machine may be any virtual machine, while in some embodimentsthe virtual machine may be any virtual machine managed by a Type 1 orType 2 hypervisor, for example, a hypervisor developed by CitrixSystems, IBM, VMware, or any other hypervisor. In some aspects, thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor, while in other aspectsthe virtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor executing on a server206 or a hypervisor executing on a client 240.

Some embodiments include a client device 240 that displays applicationoutput generated by an application remotely executing on a server 206 orother remotely located machine. In these embodiments, the client device240 may execute a virtual machine receiver program or application todisplay the output in an application window, a browser, or other outputwindow. In one example, the application is a desktop, while in otherexamples the application is an application that generates or presents adesktop. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications, as used herein, areprograms that execute after an instance of an operating system (and,optionally, also the desktop) has been loaded.

The server 206, in some embodiments, uses a remote presentation protocolor other program to send data to a thin-client or remote-displayapplication executing on the client to present display output generatedby an application executing on the server 206. The thin-client orremote-display protocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustivelist of protocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

A remote computing environment may include more than one server 206a-206 n such that the servers 206 a-206 n are logically grouped togetherinto a server farm 206, for example, in a cloud computing environment.The server farm 206 may include servers 206 that are geographicallydispersed while and logically grouped together, or servers 206 that arelocated proximate to each other while logically grouped together.Geographically dispersed servers 206 a-206 n within a server farm 206can, in some embodiments, communicate using a WAN (wide), MAN(metropolitan), or LAN (local), where different geographic regions canbe characterized as: different continents; different regions of acontinent; different countries; different states; different cities;different campuses; different rooms; or any combination of the precedinggeographical locations. In some embodiments the server farm 206 may beadministered as a single entity, while in other embodiments the serverfarm 206 can include multiple server farms.

In some embodiments, a server farm may include servers 206 that executea substantially similar type of operating system platform (e.g.,WINDOWS, UNIX, LINUX, iOS, ANDROID, SYMBIAN, etc.) In other embodiments,server farm 206 may include a first group of one or more servers thatexecute a first type of operating system platform, and a second group ofone or more servers that execute a second type of operating systemplatform.

Server 206 may be configured as any type of server, as needed, e.g., afile server, an application server, a web server, a proxy server, anappliance, a network appliance, a gateway, an application gateway, agateway server, a virtualization server, a deployment server, a SecureSockets Layer (SSL) VPN server, a firewall, a web server, an applicationserver or as a master application server, a server executing an activedirectory, or a server executing an application acceleration programthat provides firewall functionality, application functionality, or loadbalancing functionality. Other server types may also be used.

Some embodiments include a first server 206 a that receives requestsfrom a client machine 240, forwards the request to a second server 206 b(not shown), and responds to the request generated by the client machine240 with a response from the second server 206 b (not shown.) Firstserver 206 a may acquire an enumeration of applications available to theclient machine 240 and well as address information associated with anapplication server 206 hosting an application identified within theenumeration of applications. First server 206 a can then present aresponse to the client's request using a web interface, and communicatedirectly with the client 240 to provide the client 240 with access to anidentified application. One or more clients 240 and/or one or moreservers 206 may transmit data over network 230, e.g., network 101.

FIG. 3 shows a high-level architecture of an illustrative desktopvirtualization system. As shown, the desktop virtualization system maybe single-server or multi-server system, or cloud system, including atleast one virtualization server 301 configured to provide virtualdesktops and/or virtual applications to one or more client accessdevices 240. As used herein, a desktop refers to a graphical environmentor space in which one or more applications may be hosted and/orexecuted. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications may include programsthat execute after an instance of an operating system (and, optionally,also the desktop) has been loaded. Each instance of the operating systemmay be physical (e.g., one operating system per device) or virtual(e.g., many instances of an OS running on a single device). Eachapplication may be executed on a local device, or executed on a remotelylocated device (e.g., remoted).

A computer device 301 may be configured as a virtualization server in avirtualization environment, for example, a single-server, multi-server,or cloud computing environment. Virtualization server 301 illustrated inFIG. 3 can be deployed as and/or implemented by one or more embodimentsof the server 206 illustrated in FIG. 2 or by other known computingdevices. Included in virtualization server 301 is a hardware layer thatcan include one or more physical disks 304, one or more physical devices306, one or more physical processors 308, and one or more physicalmemories 316. In some embodiments, firmware 312 can be stored within amemory element in the physical memory 316 and can be executed by one ormore of the physical processors 308. Virtualization server 301 mayfurther include an operating system 314 that may be stored in a memoryelement in the physical memory 316 and executed by one or more of thephysical processors 308. Still further, a hypervisor 302 may be storedin a memory element in the physical memory 316 and can be executed byone or more of the physical processors 308.

Executing on one or more of the physical processors 308 may be one ormore virtual machines 332A-C (generally 332). Each virtual machine 332may have a virtual disk 326A-C and a virtual processor 328A-C. In someembodiments, a first virtual machine 332A may execute, using a virtualprocessor 328A, a control program 320 that includes a tools stack 324.Control program 320 may be referred to as a control virtual machine,Dom0, Domain 0, or other virtual machine used for system administrationand/or control. In some embodiments, one or more virtual machines 332B-Ccan execute, using a virtual processor 328B-C, a guest operating system330A-B.

Virtualization server 301 may include a hardware layer 310 with one ormore pieces of hardware that communicate with the virtualization server301. In some embodiments, the hardware layer 310 can include one or morephysical disks 304, one or more physical devices 306, one or morephysical processors 308, and one or more physical memory 316. Physicalcomponents 304, 306, 308, and 316 may include, for example, any of thecomponents described above. Physical devices 306 may include, forexample, a network interface card, a video card, a keyboard, a mouse, aninput device, a monitor, a display device, speakers, an optical drive, astorage device, a universal serial bus connection, a printer, a scanner,a network element (e.g., router, firewall, network address translator,load balancer, virtual private network (VPN) gateway, Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) router, etc.), or any device connected toor communicating with virtualization server 301. Physical memory 316 inthe hardware layer 310 may include any type of memory. Physical memory316 may store data, and in some embodiments may store one or moreprograms, or set of executable instructions. FIG. 3 illustrates anembodiment where firmware 312 is stored within the physical memory 316of virtualization server 301. Programs or executable instructions storedin the physical memory 316 can be executed by the one or more processors308 of virtualization server 301.

Virtualization server 301 may also include a hypervisor 302. In someembodiments, hypervisor 302 may be a program executed by processors 308on virtualization server 301 to create and manage any number of virtualmachines 332. Hypervisor 302 may be referred to as a virtual machinemonitor, or platform virtualization software. In some embodiments,hypervisor 302 can be any combination of executable instructions andhardware that monitors virtual machines executing on a computingmachine. Hypervisor 302 may be Type 2 hypervisor, where the hypervisorexecutes within an operating system 314 executing on the virtualizationserver 301. Virtual machines may then execute at a level above thehypervisor. In some embodiments, the Type 2 hypervisor may executewithin the context of a user's operating system such that the Type 2hypervisor interacts with the user's operating system. In otherembodiments, one or more virtualization servers 301 in a virtualizationenvironment may instead include a Type 1 hypervisor (not shown). A Type1 hypervisor may execute on the virtualization server 301 by directlyaccessing the hardware and resources within the hardware layer 310. Thatis, while a Type 2 hypervisor 302 accesses system resources through ahost operating system 314, as shown, a Type 1 hypervisor may directlyaccess all system resources without the host operating system 314. AType 1 hypervisor may execute directly on one or more physicalprocessors 308 of virtualization server 301, and may include programdata stored in the physical memory 316.

Hypervisor 302, in some embodiments, can provide virtual resources tooperating systems 330 or control programs 320 executing on virtualmachines 332 in any manner that simulates the operating systems 330 orcontrol programs 320 having direct access to system resources. Systemresources can include, but are not limited to, physical devices 306,physical disks 304, physical processors 308, physical memory 316, andany other component included in virtualization server 301 hardware layer310. Hypervisor 302 may be used to emulate virtual hardware, partitionphysical hardware, virtualize physical hardware, and/or execute virtualmachines that provide access to computing environments. In still otherembodiments, hypervisor 302 may control processor scheduling and memorypartitioning for a virtual machine 332 executing on virtualizationserver 301. Hypervisor 302 may include those manufactured by VMWare,Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.; the XENPROJECT hypervisor, an open sourceproduct whose development is overseen by the open source XenProject.orgcommunity; HyperV, VirtualServer or virtual PC hypervisors provided byMicrosoft, or others. In some embodiments, virtualization server 301 mayexecute a hypervisor 302 that creates a virtual machine platform onwhich guest operating systems may execute. In these embodiments, thevirtualization server 301 may be referred to as a host server. Anexample of such a virtualization server is the XENSERVER provided byCitrix Systems, Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hypervisor 302 may create one or more virtual machines 332B-C (generally332) in which guest operating systems 330 execute. In some embodiments,hypervisor 302 may load a virtual machine image to create a virtualmachine 332. In other embodiments, the hypervisor 302 may execute aguest operating system 330 within virtual machine 332. In still otherembodiments, virtual machine 332 may execute guest operating system 330.

In addition to creating virtual machines 332, hypervisor 302 may controlthe execution of at least one virtual machine 332. In other embodiments,hypervisor 302 may present at least one virtual machine 332 with anabstraction of at least one hardware resource provided by thevirtualization server 301 (e.g., any hardware resource available withinthe hardware layer 310). In other embodiments, hypervisor 302 maycontrol the manner in which virtual machines 332 access physicalprocessors 308 available in virtualization server 301. Controllingaccess to physical processors 308 may include determining whether avirtual machine 332 should have access to a processor 308, and howphysical processor capabilities are presented to the virtual machine332.

As shown in FIG. 3, virtualization server 301 may host or execute one ormore virtual machines 332. A virtual machine 332 is a set of executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor 308, may imitate theoperation of a physical computer such that the virtual machine 332 canexecute programs and processes much like a physical computing device.While FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment where a virtualization server 301hosts three virtual machines 332, in other embodiments virtualizationserver 301 can host any number of virtual machines 332. Hypervisor 302,in some embodiments, may provide each virtual machine 332 with a uniquevirtual view of the physical hardware, memory, processor, and othersystem resources available to that virtual machine 332. In someembodiments, the unique virtual view can be based on one or more ofvirtual machine permissions, application of a policy engine to one ormore virtual machine identifiers, a user accessing a virtual machine,the applications executing on a virtual machine, networks accessed by avirtual machine, or any other desired criteria. For instance, hypervisor302 may create one or more unsecure virtual machines 332 and one or moresecure virtual machines 332. Unsecure virtual machines 332 may beprevented from accessing resources, hardware, memory locations, andprograms that secure virtual machines 332 may be permitted to access. Inother embodiments, hypervisor 302 may provide each virtual machine 332with a substantially similar virtual view of the physical hardware,memory, processor, and other system resources available to the virtualmachines 332.

Each virtual machine 332 may include a virtual disk 326A-C (generally326) and a virtual processor 328A-C (generally 328.) The virtual disk326, in some embodiments, is a virtualized view of one or more physicaldisks 304 of the virtualization server 301, or a portion of one or morephysical disks 304 of the virtualization server 301. The virtualizedview of the physical disks 304 can be generated, provided, and managedby the hypervisor 302. In some embodiments, hypervisor 302 provides eachvirtual machine 332 with a unique view of the physical disks 304. Thus,in these embodiments, the particular virtual disk 326 included in eachvirtual machine 332 can be unique when compared with the other virtualdisks 326.

A virtual processor 328 can be a virtualized view of one or morephysical processors 308 of the virtualization server 301. In someembodiments, the virtualized view of the physical processors 308 can begenerated, provided, and managed by hypervisor 302. In some embodiments,virtual processor 328 has substantially all of the same characteristicsof at least one physical processor 308. In other embodiments, virtualprocessor 308 provides a modified view of physical processors 308 suchthat at least some of the characteristics of the virtual processor 328are different than the characteristics of the corresponding physicalprocessor 308.

With further reference to FIG. 4, some aspects described herein may beimplemented in a cloud-based environment. FIG. 4 illustrates an exampleof a cloud computing environment (or cloud system) 400. As seen in FIG.4, client computers 411-414 may communicate with a cloud managementserver 410 to access the computing resources (e.g., host servers 403a-403 b (generally referred herein as “host servers 403”), storageresources 404 a-404 b (generally referred herein as “storage resources404”), and network resources 405 a-405 b (generally referred herein as“network resources 405”)) of the cloud system.

Management server 410 may be implemented on one or more physicalservers. The management server 410 may run, for example, CLOUDPLATFORMby Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., or OPENSTACK, amongothers. Management server 410 may manage various computing resources,including cloud hardware and software resources, for example, hostcomputers 403, data storage devices 404, and networking devices 405. Thecloud hardware and software resources may include private and/or publiccomponents. For example, a cloud may be configured as a private cloud tobe used by one or more particular customers or client computers 411-414and/or over a private network. In other embodiments, public clouds orhybrid public-private clouds may be used by other customers over an openor hybrid networks.

Management server 410 may be configured to provide user interfacesthrough which cloud operators and cloud customers may interact with thecloud system 400. For example, the management server 410 may provide aset of application programming interfaces (APIs) and/or one or morecloud operator console applications (e.g., web-based or standaloneapplications) with user interfaces to allow cloud operators to managethe cloud resources, configure the virtualization layer, manage customeraccounts, and perform other cloud administration tasks. The managementserver 410 also may include a set of APIs and/or one or more customerconsole applications with user interfaces configured to receive cloudcomputing requests from end users via client computers 411-414, forexample, requests to create, modify, or destroy virtual machines withinthe cloud. Client computers 411-414 may connect to management server 410via the Internet or some other communication network, and may requestaccess to one or more of the computing resources managed by managementserver 410. In response to client requests, the management server 410may include a resource manager configured to select and provisionphysical resources in the hardware layer of the cloud system based onthe client requests. For example, the management server 410 andadditional components of the cloud system may be configured toprovision, create, and manage virtual machines and their operatingenvironments (e.g., hypervisors, storage resources, services offered bythe network elements, etc.) for customers at client computers 411-414,over a network (e.g., the Internet), providing customers withcomputational resources, data storage services, networking capabilities,and computer platform and application support. Cloud systems also may beconfigured to provide various specific services, including securitysystems, development environments, user interfaces, and the like.

Certain clients 411-414 may be related, for example, different clientcomputers creating virtual machines on behalf of the same end user, ordifferent users affiliated with the same company or organization. Inother examples, certain clients 411-414 may be unrelated, such as usersaffiliated with different companies or organizations. For unrelatedclients, information on the virtual machines or storage of any one usermay be hidden from other users.

Referring now to the physical hardware layer of a cloud computingenvironment, availability zones 401-402 (or zones) may refer to acollocated set of physical computing resources. Zones may begeographically separated from other zones in the overall cloud ofcomputing resources. For example, zone 401 may be a first clouddatacenter located in California, and zone 402 may be a second clouddatacenter located in Florida. Management server 410 may be located atone of the availability zones, or at a separate location. Each zone mayinclude an internal network that interfaces with devices that areoutside of the zone, such as the management server 410, through agateway. End users of the cloud (e.g., clients 411-414) might or mightnot be aware of the distinctions between zones. For example, an end usermay request the creation of a virtual machine having a specified amountof memory, processing power, and network capabilities. The managementserver 410 may respond to the user's request and may allocate theresources to create the virtual machine without the user knowing whetherthe virtual machine was created using resources from zone 401 or zone402. In other examples, the cloud system may allow end users to requestthat virtual machines (or other cloud resources) are allocated in aspecific zone or on specific resources 403-405 within a zone.

In this example, each zone 401-402 may include an arrangement of variousphysical hardware components (or computing resources) 403-405, forexample, physical hosting resources (or processing resources), physicalnetwork resources, physical storage resources, switches, and additionalhardware resources that may be used to provide cloud computing servicesto customers. The physical hosting resources in a cloud zone 401-402 mayinclude one or more computer servers 403, such as the virtualizationservers 301 described above, which may be configured to create and hostvirtual machine instances. The physical network resources in a cloudzone 401 or 402 may include one or more network elements 405 (e.g.,network service providers) comprising hardware and/or softwareconfigured to provide a network service to cloud customers, such asfirewalls, network address translators, load balancers, virtual privatenetwork (VPN) gateways, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)routers, and the like. The storage resources in the cloud zone 401-402may include storage disks (e.g., solid state drives (SSDs), magnetichard disks, etc.) and other storage devices.

The example cloud computing environment shown in FIG. 4 also may includea virtualization layer (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 1-3) with additionalhardware and/or software resources configured to create and managevirtual machines and provide other services to customers using thephysical resources in the cloud. The virtualization layer may includehypervisors, as described above in FIG. 3, along with other componentsto provide network virtualizations, storage virtualizations, etc. Thevirtualization layer may be as a separate layer from the physicalresource layer, or may share some or all of the same hardware and/orsoftware resources with the physical resource layer. For example, thevirtualization layer may include a hypervisor installed in each of thevirtualization servers 403 with the physical computing resources. Knowncloud systems may alternatively be used, e.g., WINDOWS AZURE (MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond Wash.), AMAZON EC2 (Amazon.com Inc. of Seattle,Wash.), IBM BLUE CLOUD (IBM Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.), or others.

Enterprise Mobility Management Architecture

FIG. 5 represents an enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 foruse in a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) environment. The architectureenables a user of a mobile device 502 to both access enterprise orpersonal resources from a mobile device 502 and use the mobile device502 for personal use. The user may access such enterprise resources 504or enterprise services 508 using a mobile device 502 that is purchasedby the user or a mobile device 502 that is provided by the enterprise tothe user. The user may utilize the mobile device 502 for business useonly or for business and personal use. The mobile device 502 may run aniOS operating system, an Android operating system, or the like. Theenterprise may choose to implement policies to manage the mobile device502. The policies may be implemented through a firewall or gateway insuch a way that the mobile device 502 may be identified, secured orsecurity verified, and provided selective or full access to theenterprise resources (e.g., 504 and 508.) The policies may be mobiledevice management policies, mobile application management policies,mobile data management policies, or some combination of mobile device,application, and data management policies. A mobile device 502 that ismanaged through the application of mobile device management policies maybe referred to as an enrolled device.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the mobile device 502 maybe separated into a managed partition 510 and an unmanaged partition512. The managed partition 510 may have policies applied to it to securethe applications running on and data stored in the managed partition510. The applications running on the managed partition 510 may be secureapplications. In other embodiments, all applications may execute inaccordance with a set of one or more policy files received separate fromthe application, and which define one or more security parameters,features, resource restrictions, and/or other access controls that areenforced by the mobile device management system when that application isexecuting on the mobile device 502. By operating in accordance withtheir respective policy file(s), each application may be allowed orrestricted from communications with one or more other applicationsand/or resources, thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as usedherein, a partition may refer to a physically partitioned portion ofmemory (physical partition), a logically partitioned portion of memory(logical partition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapplications as described herein (virtual partition). Stateddifferently, by enforcing policies on managed applications, thoseapplications may be restricted to only be able to communicate with othermanaged applications and trusted enterprise resources, thereby creatinga virtual partition that is not accessible by unmanaged applications anddevices.

The secure applications may be email applications, web browsingapplications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) access applications, WindowsApplication access applications, and the like. The secure applicationsmay be secure native applications 514, secure remote applications 522executed by a secure application launcher 518, virtualizationapplications 526 executed by a secure application launcher 518, and thelike. The secure native applications 514 may be wrapped by a secureapplication wrapper 520. The secure application wrapper 520 may includeintegrated policies that are executed on the mobile device 502 when thesecure native application 514 is executed on the mobile device 502. Thesecure application wrapper 520 may include meta-data that points thesecure native application 514 running on the mobile device 502 to theresources hosted at the enterprise (e.g., 504 and 508) that the securenative application 514 may require to complete the task requested uponexecution of the secure native application 514. The secure remoteapplications 522 executed by a secure application launcher 518 may beexecuted within the secure application launcher 518. The virtualizationapplications 526 executed by a secure application launcher 518 mayutilize resources on the mobile device 502, at the enterprise resources504, and the like. The resources used on the mobile device 502 by thevirtualization applications 526 executed by a secure applicationlauncher 518 may include user interaction resources, processingresources, and the like. The user interaction resources may be used tocollect and transmit keyboard input, mouse input, camera input, tactileinput, audio input, visual input, gesture input, and the like. Theprocessing resources may be used to present a user interface, processdata received from the enterprise resources 504, and the like. Theresources used at the enterprise resources 504 by the virtualizationapplications 526 executed by a secure application launcher 518 mayinclude user interface generation resources, processing resources, andthe like. The user interface generation resources may be used toassemble a user interface, modify a user interface, refresh a userinterface, and the like. The processing resources may be used to createinformation, read information, update information, delete information,and the like. For example, the virtualization application 526 may recorduser interactions associated with a graphical user interface (GUI) andcommunicate them to a server application where the server applicationwill use the user interaction data as an input to the applicationoperating on the server. In such an arrangement, an enterprise may electto maintain the application on the server side as well as data, files,etc. associated with the application. While an enterprise may elect to“mobilize” some applications in accordance with the principles herein bysecuring them for deployment on the mobile device 502, this arrangementmay also be elected for certain applications. For example, while someapplications may be secured for use on the mobile device 502, othersmight not be prepared or appropriate for deployment on the mobile device502 so the enterprise may elect to provide the mobile user access to theunprepared applications through virtualization techniques. As anotherexample, the enterprise may have large complex applications with largeand complex data sets (e.g., material resource planning applications)where it would be very difficult, or otherwise undesirable, to customizethe application for the mobile device 502 so the enterprise may elect toprovide access to the application through virtualization techniques. Asyet another example, the enterprise may have an application thatmaintains highly secured data (e.g., human resources data, customerdata, engineering data) that may be deemed by the enterprise as toosensitive for even the secured mobile environment so the enterprise mayelect to use virtualization techniques to permit mobile access to suchapplications and data. An enterprise may elect to provide both fullysecured and fully functional applications on the mobile device 502 aswell as a virtualization application 526 to allow access to applicationsthat are deemed more properly operated on the server side. In anembodiment, the virtualization application 526 may store some data,files, etc. on the mobile device 502 in one of the secure storagelocations. An enterprise, for example, may elect to allow certaininformation to be stored on the mobile device 502 while not permittingother information.

In connection with the virtualization application 526, as describedherein, the mobile device 502 may have a virtualization application 526that is designed to present GUIs and then record user interactions withthe GUI. The virtualization application 526 may communicate the userinteractions to the server side to be used by the server sideapplication as user interactions with the application. In response, theapplication on the server side may transmit back to the mobile device502 a new GUI. For example, the new GUI may be a static page, a dynamicpage, an animation, or the like, thereby providing access to remotelylocated resources.

The secure applications 514 may access data stored in a secure datacontainer 528 in the managed partition 510 of the mobile device 502. Thedata secured in the secure data container may be accessed by the securenative applications 514, secure remote applications 522 executed by asecure application launcher 518, virtualization applications 526executed by a secure application launcher 518, and the like. The datastored in the secure data container 528 may include files, databases,and the like. The data stored in the secure data container 528 mayinclude data restricted to a specific secure application 530, sharedamong secure applications 532, and the like. Data restricted to a secureapplication may include secure general data 534 and highly secure data538. Secure general data may use a strong form of encryption such asAdvanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption or the like, whilehighly secure data 538 may use a very strong form of encryption such asAES 256-bit encryption. Data stored in the secure data container 528 maybe deleted from the mobile device 502 upon receipt of a command from thedevice manager 524. The secure applications (e.g., 514, 522, and 526)may have a dual-mode option 540. The dual mode option 540 may presentthe user with an option to operate the secured application in anunsecured or unmanaged mode. In an unsecured or unmanaged mode, thesecure applications may access data stored in an unsecured datacontainer 542 on the unmanaged partition 512 of the mobile device 502.The data stored in an unsecured data container may be personal data 544.The data stored in an unsecured data container 542 may also be accessedby unsecured applications 546 that are running on the unmanagedpartition 512 of the mobile device 502. The data stored in an unsecureddata container 542 may remain on the mobile device 502 when the datastored in the secure data container 528 is deleted from the mobiledevice 502. An enterprise may want to delete from the mobile device 502selected or all data, files, and/or applications owned, licensed orcontrolled by the enterprise (enterprise data) while leaving orotherwise preserving personal data, files, and/or applications owned,licensed or controlled by the user (personal data). This operation maybe referred to as a selective wipe. With the enterprise and personaldata arranged in accordance to the aspects described herein, anenterprise may perform a selective wipe.

The mobile device 502 may connect to enterprise resources 504 andenterprise services 508 at an enterprise, to the public Internet 548,and the like. The mobile device 502 may connect to enterprise resources504 and enterprise services 508 through virtual private networkconnections. The virtual private network connections, also referred toas microVPN or application-specific VPN, may be specific to particularapplications (as illustrated by microVPNs 550, particular devices,particular secured areas on the mobile device (as illustrated by O/S VPN552), and the like. For example, each of the wrapped applications in thesecured area of the mobile device 502 may access enterprise resourcesthrough an application specific VPN such that access to the VPN would begranted based on attributes associated with the application, possibly inconjunction with user or device attribute information. The virtualprivate network connections may carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, applicationmanagement traffic, and the like. The virtual private networkconnections may support and enable single-sign-on authenticationprocesses 554. The single-sign-on processes may allow a user to providea single set of authentication credentials, which are then verified byan authentication service 558. The authentication service 558 may thengrant to the user access to multiple enterprise resources 504, withoutrequiring the user to provide authentication credentials to eachindividual enterprise resource 504.

The virtual private network connections may be established and managedby an access gateway 560. The access gateway 560 may include performanceenhancement features that manage, accelerate, and improve the deliveryof enterprise resources 504 to the mobile device 502. The access gateway560 may also re-route traffic from the mobile device 502 to the publicInternet 548, enabling the mobile device 502 to access publiclyavailable and unsecured applications that run on the public Internet548. The mobile device 502 may connect to the access gateway via atransport network 562. The transport network 562 may use one or moretransport protocols and may be a wired network, wireless network, cloudnetwork, local area network, metropolitan area network, wide areanetwork, public network, private network, and the like.

The enterprise resources 504 may include email servers, file sharingservers, SaaS applications, Web application servers, Windows applicationservers, and the like. Email servers may include Exchange servers, LotusNotes servers, and the like. File sharing servers may include ShareFileservers, and the like. SaaS applications may include Salesforce, and thelike. Windows application servers may include any application serverthat is built to provide applications that are intended to run on alocal Windows operating system, and the like. The enterprise resources504 may be premise-based resources, cloud-based resources, and the like.The enterprise resources 504 may be accessed by the mobile device 502directly or through the access gateway 560. The enterprise resources 504may be accessed by the mobile device 502 via the transport network 562.

The enterprise services 508 may include authentication services 558,threat detection services 564, device manager services 524, file sharingservices 568, policy manager services 570, social integration services572, application controller services 574, and the like. Authenticationservices 558 may include user authentication services, deviceauthentication services, application authentication services, dataauthentication services, and the like. Authentication services 558 mayuse certificates. The certificates may be stored on the mobile device502, by the enterprise resources 504, and the like. The certificatesstored on the mobile device 502 may be stored in an encrypted locationon the mobile device 502, the certificate may be temporarily stored onthe mobile device 502 for use at the time of authentication, and thelike. Threat detection services 564 may include intrusion detectionservices, unauthorized access attempt detection services, and the like.Unauthorized access attempt detection services may include unauthorizedattempts to access devices, applications, data, and the like. Devicemanagement services 524 may include configuration, provisioning,security, support, monitoring, reporting, and decommissioning services.File sharing services 568 may include file management services, filestorage services, file collaboration services, and the like. Policymanager services 570 may include device policy manager services,application policy manager services, data policy manager services, andthe like. Social integration services 572 may include contactintegration services, collaboration services, integration with socialnetworks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and the like.Application controller services 574 may include management services,provisioning services, deployment services, assignment services,revocation services, wrapping services, and the like.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 may include anapplication store 578. The application store 578 may include unwrappedapplications 580, pre-wrapped applications 582, and the like.Applications may be populated in the application store 578 from theapplication controller 574. The application store 578 may be accessed bythe mobile device 502 through the access gateway 560, through the publicInternet 548, or the like. The application store 578 may be providedwith an intuitive and easy to use user interface.

A software development kit 584 may provide a user the capability tosecure applications selected by the user by wrapping the application asdescribed previously in this description. An application that has beenwrapped using the software development kit 584 may then be madeavailable to the mobile device 502 by populating it in the applicationstore 578 using the application controller 574.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 may include amanagement and analytics capability 588. The management and analyticscapability 588 may provide information related to how resources areused, how often resources are used, and the like. Resources may includedevices, applications, data, and the like. How resources are used mayinclude which devices download which applications, which applicationsaccess which data, and the like. How often resources are used mayinclude how often an application has been downloaded, how many times aspecific set of data has been accessed by an application, and the like.

FIG. 6 is another illustrative enterprise mobility management system600. Some of the components of the mobility management system 500described above with reference to FIG. 5 have been omitted for the sakeof simplicity. The architecture of the system 600 depicted in FIG. 6 issimilar in many respects to the architecture of the system 500 describedabove with reference to FIG. 5 and may include additional features notmentioned above.

In this case, the left hand side represents an enrolled mobile device602 with a client agent 604, which interacts with gateway server 606(which includes Access Gateway and application controller functionality)to access various enterprise resources 608 and services 609 such asExchange, Sharepoint, public-key infrastructure (PKI) Resources,Kerberos Resources, Certificate Issuance service, as shown on the righthand side above. Although not specifically shown, the mobile device 602may also interact with an enterprise application store (StoreFront) forthe selection and downloading of applications.

The client agent 604 acts as the UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using the High-Definition User Experience (HDX)/ICA displayremoting protocol. The client agent 604 also supports the installationand management of native applications on the mobile device 602, such asnative iOS or Android applications. For example, the managedapplications 610 (mail, browser, wrapped application) shown in thefigure above are all native applications that execute locally on themobile device 602. Client agent 604 and application management frameworkof this architecture act to provide policy driven managementcapabilities and features such as connectivity and SSO (single sign on)to enterprise resources/services 608. The client agent 604 handlesprimary user authentication to the enterprise, normally to AccessGateway (AG) 606 with SSO to other gateway server components. The clientagent 604 obtains policies from gateway server 606 to control thebehavior of the managed applications 610 on the mobile device 602.

The Secure InterProcess Communication (IPC) links 612 between the nativeapplications 610 and client agent 604 represent a management channel,which may allow a client agent to supply policies to be enforced by theapplication management framework 614 “wrapping” each application. TheIPC channel 612 may also allow client agent 604 to supply credential andauthentication information that enables connectivity and SSO toenterprise resources 608. Finally, the IPC channel 612 may allow theapplication management framework 614 to invoke user interface functionsimplemented by client agent 604, such as online and offlineauthentication.

Communications between the client agent 604 and gateway server 606 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 614 wrapping each native managed application 610.The application management framework 614 may request policy informationfrom client agent 604, which in turn may request it from gateway server606. The application management framework 614 may requestauthentication, and client agent 604 may log into the gateway servicespart of gateway server 606 (also known as NETSCALER ACCESS GATEWAY).Client agent 604 may also call supporting services on gateway server606, which may produce input material to derive encryption keys for thelocal data vaults 616, or may provide client certificates which mayenable direct authentication to PM protected resources, as more fullyexplained below.

In more detail, the application management framework 614 “wraps” eachmanaged application 610. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 614 may “pair” with client agent 604 on first launch of anapplication 610 to initialize the Secure IPC channel 612 and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 614may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the managed application 610.

The application management framework 614 may use services provided byclient agent 604 over the Secure IPC channel 612 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access. Key management for theprivate and shared data vaults 616 (containers) may be also managed byappropriate interactions between the managed applications 610 and clientagent 604. Vaults 616 may be available only after online authentication,or may be made available after offline authentication if allowed bypolicy. First use of vaults 616 may require online authentication, andoffline access may be limited to at most the policy refresh periodbefore online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 610 through Access Gateway 606. The applicationmanagement framework 614 may be responsible for orchestrating thenetwork access on behalf of each managed application 610. Client agent604 may facilitate these network connections by providing suitable timelimited secondary credentials obtained following online authentication.Multiple modes of network connection may be used, such as reverse webproxy connections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 618.

The Mail and Browser managed applications 610 have special status andmay make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the Mail application 610may use a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess an Exchange server 608 over an extended period of time withoutrequiring a full AG logon. The Browser application 610 may use multipleprivate data vaults 616 to segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture may support the incorporation of various othersecurity features. For example, gateway server 606 (including itsgateway services) in some cases may not need to validate activedirectory (AD) passwords. It can be left to the discretion of anenterprise whether an AD password may be used as an authenticationfactor for some users in some situations. Different authenticationmethods may be used if a user is online or offline (i.e., connected ornot connected to a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 606 mayidentify managed native applications 610 that are allowed to have accessto highly classified data requiring strong authentication, and ensurethat access to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequired by the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 616 (containers) on the mobile device 602. The vaults 616 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including files, databases, andconfigurations are protected. For on-line vaults, the keys may be storedon the server (gateway server 606), and for off-line vaults, a localcopy of the keys may be protected by a user password or biometricvalidation. If or when data is stored locally on the mobile device 602in the secure container 616, it may be preferred that a minimum of AES256 encryption algorithm be utilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein security events happeninginside a managed application 610 may be logged and reported to thebackend. Data wiping may be supported, such as if or when the managedapplication 610 detects tampering, associated encryption keys may bewritten over with random data, leaving no hint on the file system thatuser data was destroyed. Screenshot protection may be another feature,where an application may prevent any data from being stored inscreenshots. For example, the key window's hidden property may be set toYES. This may cause whatever content is currently displayed on thescreen to be hidden, resulting in a blank screenshot where any contentwould normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the mobile device602 is generated using a passphrase or biometric data supplied by theuser (if offline access is required). It may be XORed with another keyrandomly generated and stored on the server side if offline access isnot required. Key Derivation functions may operate such that keysgenerated from the user password use KDFs (key derivation functions,notably Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2)) rather thancreating a cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptibleto brute force or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector will cause multiple copies of the sameencrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventing bothreplay and cryptanalytic attacks. This will also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key. Further,authentication then decryption may be used, wherein application data isdecrypted only after the user has authenticated within the application.Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory, which may bekept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. For example,login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, and encryptionkeys and other data inside objective-C instance variables are notstored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented, wherein after a policy-definedperiod of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 614 may beprevented in other ways. For example, if or when a managed application610 is put in the background, the memory may be cleared after apredetermined (configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshotmay be taken of the last displayed screen of the application to fastenthe foregrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential dataand hence should be cleared.

Another security feature may relate to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 620 without the use of an AD (active directory) 622 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 620 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text may be sent to the user with an OTP 620. In some cases,this may be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being asingle field.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose managed applications 610 for which offline use is permitted viaenterprise policy. For example, an enterprise may want StoreFront to beaccessed in this manner In this case, the client agent 604 may requirethe user to set a custom offline password and the AD password is notused. Gateway server 606 may provide policies to control and enforcepassword standards with respect to the minimum length, character classcomposition, and age of passwords, such as described by the standardWindows Server password complexity requirements, although theserequirements may be modified.

Another feature may relate to the enablement of a client sidecertificate for certain applications 610 as secondary credentials (forthe purpose of accessing PM protected web resources via the applicationmanagement framework micro VPN feature). For example, a managedapplication 610 may utilize such a certificate. In this case,certificate-based authentication using ActiveSync protocol may besupported, wherein a certificate from the client agent 604 may beretrieved by gateway server 606 and used in a keychain. Each managedapplication 610 may have one associated client certificate, identifiedby a label that is defined in gateway server 606.

Gateway server 606 may interact with an enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 604 and the application management framework 614 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PM protected network resources. More than onecertificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe Mail and Browser managed applications 610, and ultimately byarbitrary wrapped applications 610 (provided those applications use webservice style communication patterns where it is reasonable for theapplication management framework to mediate HTTPS requests).

Application management client certificate support on iOS may rely onimporting a public-key cryptography standards (PKCS) 12 BLOB (BinaryLarge Object) into the iOS keychain in each managed application 610 foreach period of use. Application management framework client certificatesupport may use a HTTPS implementation with private in-memory keystorage. The client certificate may not be present in the iOS keychainand may not be persisted except potentially in “online-only” data valuethat is strongly protected.

Mutual SSL or TLS may also be implemented to provide additional securityby requiring that a mobile device 602 is authenticated to theenterprise, and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication togateway server 606 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toActive Directory (AD) 622, using an AD password or trusted clientcertificate, and obtain Kerberos service tickets to respond to HTTPNegotiate authentication challenges. The limited support feature relatesto constrained delegation in Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition(AGEE), where AGEE supports invoking Kerberos protocol transition so itcan obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject to constraineddelegation) in response to HTTP Negotiate authentication challenges.This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (aka corporate virtual privatenetwork (CVPN)) mode, and when HTTP (but not HTTPS) connections areproxied in VPN and MicroVPN mode.

Another feature may relate to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may include aremote wipe functionality even when a managed application 610 is notrunning.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of enterprise applicationstore and an application controller may be supported that allows usersto be serviced from one of several different locations in case offailure.

In some cases, managed applications 610 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (for example, OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 610 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as if or when an application behaves like a browserand no certificate access is required, if or when an application reads acertificate for “who am I,” if or when an application uses thecertificate to build a secure session token, and if or when anapplication uses private keys for digital signing of important data(e.g. transaction log) or for temporary data encryption.

Instant Virtual Application Launch

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative diagram for establishing a remote accesssecure session at a user device 705. To begin, the user device 705 maycomprise a mobile computing device, such as a mobile device, a laptopcomputer, and the like. The user device 705 may publish a query toestablish a secure session using a virtual desktop instance, such as aninstance of CITRIX™ Secure Browser or an instance of CITRIX RECEIVER™.The query may pass through a firewall 725 and to a gateway computingplatform 710. The gateway computing platform may comprise, for example,a Netscalar Gateway.

The gateway computing platform 710 may establish a connection with astorefront 715, which may enumerate applications and/or to authenticatethe user device 705. The storefront 715 may also register, with adesktop delivery controller (DDC), a user device token, and mayestablish a connection with a virtual delivery agent (VDA) 720 forpurposes of initiating a brokering process. The VDA 720 may compriseapplication virtualization software such as XENAPP® or XENDESKTOP®. TheVDA may comprise one of a plurality of VDAs and/or terminal servers towhich the user device 705 is load balanced. The VDA 720 may encrypt,using an encryption service, user device credentials and then store theuser device credentials. The VDA 720 may also generate, using the userdevice credentials, a logon ticket. The VDA 720 may return the logonticket to the storefront.

The storefront 715 may establish a connection with a secure ticketauthority (STA) service 730, which may be used to store identificationinformation for the VDA 720. The STA service 730 may comprise, forexample, a server. The STA service 730 may issue a STA ticket which maybe used for subsequent authentication attempts. For example, the STAticket may be used to reference an IP address of the VDA 720 and a portnumber of the VDA 720. The storefront 715 may also generate anIndependent Computing Architecture (ICA) file, and may make the ICA fileavailable to the user device 705. In some examples, the ICA file maycomprise the secure ticket authority (STA) ticket and the logon ticketdescribed above. The ICA file may comprise a name of a requestedapplication or virtual desktop and may comprise an address of thegateway computing platform 710.

The gateway computing device 710 may also establish a connection withthe VDA 720. For example, the gateway computing device 710 may passrequests and authentication credentials from the user device 705 to theVDA 720.

FIG. 8 depicts an example method 800 for establishing and reestablishinga secure session in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein. Referring to FIG. 8, at step 805, a secure session maybe pre-launched between a first receiver instance and a virtual deliveryagent (VDA). The first receiver instance may be, for example, a firstvirtual desktop instance such as an instance of an HTML5 receiverinstance or an instance of a secure browser. In some examples, the firstreceiver instance may be based on an endpoint client device, and inother examples, the first receiver instance may be hosted by a cloudservice. The pre-launch may begin by using the first receiver instanceto retrieve information associated with an application, such as INTERNETEXPLORER™. For example, the user device may publish, using the firstreceiver instance, a query to establish a secure session. The query maypass through a firewall and to a gateway computing platform, which willsubsequently authenticate the first receiver instance and performconnection brokering with the VDA. For example, the gateway computingplatform may transmit, through the firewall and to a storefront, anactive directory (AD) logon token. The storefront may use the AD logontoken to enumerate applications and/or to authenticate the user device.After receiving the AD logon token, the storefront may register, with adesktop delivery controller (DDC), a user device token, and may initiatea brokering process with the VDA. As part of the brokering, the VDA mayreceive user device credentials, such as the AD logon token. Using anencryption service, the VDA may encrypt and store the user devicecredentials. The VDA may also generate, using the user devicecredentials, a logon ticket. The VDA may return the logon ticket to thestorefront. The VDA may also transmit, to the storefront, an internetprotocol (IP) address of the VDA and port details of the VDA. Thestorefront may store, in a STA service, the IP address and the portdetails of the VDA. The STA service may issue a STA ticket, and maytransmit the STA ticket to the storefront.

The STA ticket may be used to reference an IP address of the VDA and aport number of the VDA. For example, when the user device attempts toreconnect to the VDA, it may not know the address of the VDA. In thisexample, the user device may connect to gateway computing platform andmay provide the gateway computing platform with the STA ticket. The STAticket may be exchanged across a common gateway protocol (CGP) from theuser device to the gateway computing platform and may act as anauthentication token between the user device and the gateway computingplatform. The STA ticket may conceal internal details of the VDA. Insome examples, the gateway computing platform may transmit, via the ICAfile and to the user device, the STA ticket. During subsequent requeststo reestablish the secure session between the user device and the VDA,the user device may use the STA ticket to circumvent the process ofbrokering between the storefront and the VDA. In response to receivingthe STA ticket, the STA computing platform may transmit, to the gatewaycomputing platform, the IP address and port for the VDA.

After brokering to the VDA, the storefront may generate an IndependentComputing Architecture (ICA) file, and may make the ICA file availableto the user device. For example, the ICA file may comprise a protocolstate for the first receiver instance and a plurality of authenticationtokens. For example, the ICA file may comprise one or more of the STAticket, the logon ticket, the name of a requested application or virtualdesktop, an address of the gateway, and the like. The ICA file may bestored at the user device. The ICA file may be removed after use. TheICA file may also contain configuration information for connecting todifferent servers, and may link to the application and/or a serverdesktop environment. The first receiver instance may then begin toestablish a connection with the VDA. For example, the first receiverinstance may first establish a websocket connection to provide duplexcommunication channels over a single transmission control protocol (TCP)connection. The first receiver instance may then establish, via agateway computing platform and with the VDA, an ICA connection. The ICAconnection may be established via an ICA handshake, which may comprise asix way handshake between the gateway computing platform and the VDA.Establishing the ICA connection may also comprise validating the STAticket. Once the STA ticket is validated, the gateway computing platformmay use the IP address and the port details of the VDA to connect theuser device to the VDA. In some examples, the gateway computing platformmay retrieve a refresh STA ticket from the STA service that may be usedto reauthorize a connection in case of network disruption. The VDA mayreceive, from the gateway computing platform, the request to establishthe secure session. In some examples, the VDA may already haveidentified the user device. For example, the gateway communicationplatform may transmit, to the VDA, the identity of the user device.Along with the request to establish the secure session, the VDA mayreceive the logon ticket, which the VDA may use to resolve the userdevice credentials in the encryption service and to validate the userdevice. The VDA may transmit, to one of a credential provider filtersuch as CITRIX™ Credential Provider Filter, or a credential providersuch as MICROSOFT™ Credential Provider, the user device credentials.

Once an ICA connection, including a connection containing a plurality ofvirtual channels, is established and once the first receiver instanceand VDA are initialized, the first receiver instance may begin to renderthe secure session and the VDA may host the secure session. The securesession may comprise a high definition experience (HDX) session.

After the user device connects to the VDA, the VDA may register, withthe user device, a reconnect cookie. In one example, the reconnectcookie may comprise a CGP cookie. Following a possible networkdisruption, this may allow the user device to reestablish the securesession with the VDA without causing session interruption. For example,following a network disruption, the user device may be able to recreateand reauthorize the network connection by providing, to the gatewaycomputing platform, the refresh STA ticket as previously explained. Theuser device may then securely reattach to the secure session byproviding, to the VDA, the CGP cookie. Thus the user device may reattachto the session without resupplying the user device credentials to one ofa credential provider filter or a credential provider. The user devicemay reattach to the session without performing full re-authenticationwith the VDA's authentication subsystem. The gateway computing platformmay retrieve a new refresh STA ticket from the STA service. The VDA maygenerate a new CGP cookie. The new refresh STA ticket and CGP cookie maythen be returned to the user device via a CGP handshake protocol, sothey can be used following a possible future network disruption.

At step 810, after performing the session pre-launch, the first receiverinstance may persist the protocol state for the first receiver instance,established at step 805, for the first receiver instance. For example,the first receiver instance may record internal protocol state variablescomprising the ICA state, such as a framing state, a basic encryptionstate, a secure ICA encryption state, ICA reducer (compression) state,negotiated ICA capabilities state, and the like. In another example, thefirst receiver instance may record a network protocol conversationbetween the first receiver instance and the VDA hosting the pre-launchsecure session. The first receiver instance may make the recordednetwork protocol conversation open to subsequent receiver instances. Inthis example, the first receiver instance may also record the pluralityof authentication tokens. The plurality of authentication tokens mayinclude, for example, a refresh secure ticket authority (STA) ticketthat may be used to authenticate the first receiver instance to agateway computing platform, such as a Netscalar Gateway. The pluralityof authentication tokens may also include, for example, a common gatewayprotocol (CGP) cookie, which may be used for re-authentication andre-attachment to the secure session.

In some examples, the first receiver instance may persist the protocolstate for the first receiver instance until the end of the ICAhandshake. For example, the first receiver instance may persist theprotocol state for the first receiver instance until the end of the ICAhandshake because, assuming that the ICA protocol network conversationdoes not include one or more keep alive packets, after the pre-launchthe secure session will be stale. In this example, recording until theend of the ICA handshake may be sufficient to establish the protocolmodules and capabilities. The first receiver instance may ignore ICApackets transmitted after the ICA handshake because they may not berelevant to a new receiver instance.

In other examples, the first receiver instance may record the entirenetwork protocol conversation between the first receiver instance andthe VDA. In these examples, the protocol state for the first receiverinstance may be shared locally on the user device as opposed to beingsent over a network.

At step 815, once the first receiver instance has persisted the protocolstate, a user device may receive an instruction to launch the securesession comprising one of a web link, a published application withcontent, a new published application, and the like. For example, if auser is attempting to access content in a secure browser, the user mayprovide a user input to the user device comprising a uniform resourcelocator (URL). In another example, the user may be attempting to launcha new HDX template application on a mobile device, and may provide auser input to the mobile device requesting that the mobile device launchthe new HDX template application from a mobile device springboard. Inyet another example, the user may provide a user input to the userdevice comprising an instruction to launch a new HTML5 publishedapplication or to launch a new published application from an applicationstore. For example, the user may attempt to launch MICROSOFT WORD™MICROSOFT EXCEL™, and the like.

At step 820, once the user device attempts to access the secure session,the first receiver instance may share, with a second receiver instance,the protocol state for the first receiver instance persisted above atstep 810. The first receiver instance may share the protocol state forthe first receiver instance by performing one of a plurality of sharingand caching optimizations of the ICA file, determined at step 805,between the first receiver instance and the second receiver instance.

For example, the first receiver instance and the second receiverinstance may comprise instances of a secure browser service, such asCITRIX™ Secure Browser, or HTML5 receiver. The first receiver instancemay comprise an HTML5 receiver instance hosted and managed by a cloudservice, and the second receiver instance may comprise an HTML5 receiverinstance hosted by a client endpoint and managed by the cloud service.The first receiver instance may send, to the second receiver instance,the protocol state for the first receiver instance in the ICA filedetermined above at step 805. In this example, the first receiverinstance may send, to the second receiver instance, the protocol statefor the first receiver instance each time the second receiver instanceattempts to establish the secure session. The ICA file may be sent, viaa one way transmission, to the second receiver instance. Once the secondreceiver instance receives the protocol state for the first receiverinstance, the second receiver instance may cache the protocol state forthe first receiver instance. Once the protocol state for the firstreceiver instance is cached at the second receiver instance, the firstreceiver instance may send the protocol state of the first receiverinstance when there is an update or change to the first receiverinstance and may not otherwise send the protocol state of the firstreceiver instance to the second receiver instance. Once cached, theprotocol state of the first receiver instance may be embedded into thesecond receiver instance. In some examples, the protocol state of thefirst receiver instance may also be embedded into the first receiverinstance.

In another example, the first receiver instance and the second receiverinstance may comprise instances of HDX software development kit (SDK)mobile applications. The HDX SDK mobile applications may be signed by ashared profile and the first receiver instance may share, with thesecond receiver instance and via an operating system (OS) key chain, theprotocol state of the first receiver instance. Alternatively, the HDXSDK mobile applications may be managed with one of mobile applicationmanagement (MAM), mobile device management (MDM), or a combination ofMDM and MAM, and the first receiver instance may share, with the secondreceiver instance and via a mobile device experience (MDX) secret vault,the protocol state of the first receiver instance. The second receiverinstance may then access, via the MDX secret vault, the protocol stateof the first receiver instance and any associated authentication tokens.Sharing of the protocol state of the first receiver instance between HDXmobile applications is illustrated and described below further withregard to FIG. 11.

In yet another example, the first receiver instance and the secondreceiver instance may comprise instances of HTML5 receivers running indifferent browser tabs. For example, a user may attempt to launchdifferent content in each of two HTML5 receivers running in differenttabs of INTERNET EXPLORER™. In this example, the first receiver instancemay store, using local browser storage, the protocol state of the firstreceiver instance and any associated authentication tokens. The secondreceiver instance may then access the protocol state of the firstreceiver instance and the associated authentication tokens. The secondreceiver instance may comprise one of a new instance of an HTML5receiver or an existing HTML receiver instance in a browser tab that maybe brought into focus. Sharing of the protocol state of the firstreceiver instance between instances of HTML receivers running indifferent browser tabs is illustrated and described further below withregard to FIG. 12.

At step 825, after receiving the protocol state of the first receiverinstance, the second receiver instance may perform a transportreconnect, and may be re-authenticated to the gateway computing platformand secure session. The second receiver instance may perform thetransport reconnect and authentication process via the CGP and using theauthentication tokens. For example, the second receiver instance may usethe refresh STA ticket for authorization to the gateway computingplatform and may use the CGP cookie to re-authenticate and to re-attachto the pre-created session, established at step 805. The second receiverinstance may perform the transport reconnect prior to authentication ofthe connection between the VDA and the second virtual desktop instance.

At step 830, the second receiver instance may suspend network activityfor a predetermined period of time. This may include suspension of theCGP.

At step 835, once the network activity has been suspended at step 830,the second receiver instance may perform, using the protocol state ofthe first receiver instance, an in-application recreation of theprotocol state of the first receiver instance, resulting in a protocolstate of the second receiver instance. For example, the second receiverinstance may recreate the ICA state generated at step 805 from theprotocol state of the first receiver instance. This recreation of theprotocol state of the first receiver instance may be performed frommemory of the user device, and may be placed in storage. To generate theprotocol state of the second receiver instance, the second receiverinstance may read host-to-client protocol comprising the protocol stateof the first receiver instance and may drop client-host responses. Bygenerating the protocol state of the second receiver instance offline,the protocol state stored at the VDA may remain unaffected. This methodmay avoid multiple roundtrip network latency of presentation-levelprotocol negotiation and may reduce HDX session reconnect processingtime.

For example, to generate the protocol state of the second receiverinstance, the second receiver instance may read from the ICA filegenerated above at step 810, and the second receiver instance may throwaway the corresponding write operations. This may allow the secondreceiver instance to simulate communication and negotiation with anetwork by communicating with a recorded network conversation. Thesecond receiver instance may then use this recorded network conversationto create the protocol state of the second receiver instance. This mayreduce the computing cost of generating the protocol state of the secondreceiver instance.

In some examples, such as when the first receiver instance comprises aninstance of HTML5 receiver, the first receiver instance may embed,within itself, the protocol state of the first receiver instance. Inthese examples, when a user downloads, to a user device, a secondinstance of the HTML5 receiver, the protocol state for the firstreceiver instance may already be embedded.

At step 840, after creation of the protocol state for the secondreceiver instance at step 835, the second receiver instance may resumenormal network activity and the CGP protocol. The second receiver maythen continue normal communication with the session at the VDA. Thecommunication between the second receiver and the session may involvepresentation level protocols such as ICA or ICA Virtual Channelstunneled over CGP. The communication between the second receiver and thesession may allow user interaction with the session and/or exchange ofdata. The communication between the second receiver and the session mayfurther modify the ICA state at the second receiver.

At step 845, after resuming normal network activity and the CGP at step840, the second receiver instance may reset an ICA reducer compressionstate via a new ICA protocol command. The second receiver instance mayalso reset an ICA stack protocol header overhead, which may depend on atype of transport used. In some examples, the transport may comprise anenlightened data transport (EDT). In other examples, the transport maycomprise a transmission control protocol (TCP). Resetting the ICAreducer compression state and the ICA stack protocol header may beperformed in parallel, and the reset may not affect logon time.

At step 850, the requested content (such as a web link, publishedapplication with content, new published application, or the like) may belaunched via the second receiver instance.

Although steps 805-850 are shown in one example order in FIG. 8, steps805-850 need not all be performed in the order specified and some stepsmay be omitted or changed in order. The method 800 may be a recursivemethod that continuously repeats. The method 800 may be repeated in fullor in part.

FIG. 9 depicts an example method 900 for establishing and reestablishinga secure session via a progressive logon in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein. The example method 900 maycomprise an extended version of the method 800, described above.Referring to FIG. 9, at step 905, a secure session may be pre-launchedbetween a first receiver instance and a virtual delivery agent VDA.Actions performed at step 905 may be similar to those described abovewith regard to step 805.

At step 910, after performing the session pre-launch, the first receiverinstance may persist the protocol state for the first receiver instance,established at step 805, for the first receiver instance. Actionsperformed at step 910 may be similar to those described above withregard to step 810.

At step 915, once the first receiver instance has persisted the protocolstate, a user device may receive an instruction to launch the securesession comprising one of a web link, a published application withcontent, a new published application, and the like. Actions performed atstep 915 may be similar to those described above with regard to step815.

At step 920, once the user device attempts to access the secure session,the first receiver instance may share, with a second receiver instance,the protocol state for the first receiver instance persisted above atstep 910. Actions performed at step 920 may be similar to thosedescribed above with regard to step 820.

At step 925, after receiving the protocol state of the first receiverinstance, the second receiver instance may perform a transportreconnect, and be re-authenticated to the gateway computing platform andsecure session. Actions performed at step 925 may be similar to thosedescribed above with regard to step 825.

At step 930, the second receiver instance may suspend network activityfor a predetermined period of time. Actions performed at step 930 may besimilar to those described above with regard to step 830.

At step 935, once the network activity has been suspended at step 930,the second receiver instance may perform, using the protocol state ofthe first receiver instance, an in-application recreation of theprotocol state of the first receiver instance, resulting in a protocolstate of the second receiver instance. Actions performed at step 935 maybe similar to those described above with regard to step 835.

At step 940, after creation of the protocol state for the secondreceiver instance at step 935, the second receiver instance may resumenetwork activity and the CGP protocol. Actions performed at step 940 maybe similar to those described above with regard to step 840.

At step 945, after resuming normal network activity and the CGP protocolat step 940, the second receiver instance may reset an ICA reducercompression state via a new ICA protocol command. The second receiverinstance may also reset an ICA stack protocol header overhead, which maydepend on a type of transport used. Actions performed at step 945 may besimilar to those described above with regard to step 845.

At step 950, the requested content (such as a web link, publishedapplication with content, new published application, or the like) may belaunched via the second receiver instance. Actions performed at step 950may be similar to those described above with regard to step 850.

At step 952, the second receiver instance may determine whether allprotocol states of the first receiver instance were persisted. In someexamples, various virtual channel (VC) capabilities and states dependingon a user device type and/or a local environment may not be persisted.If all protocol states of the first receiver instance were persisted,the second receiver instance may proceed to step 954 to initiate a fulllogon. If the protocol states of the first receiver instance were notall persisted, the second receiver instance may proceed to step 955 toinitiate a progressive logon.

At step 954, the second receiver instance may establish and display theweb link, published application with content, or published applicationlaunched above at step 950. For example, the second receiver instancemay load all features associated with the secure session. The method 900may then proceed to step 975 to determine whether another attempt toreestablish the secure session is received.

At step 955, the second receiver instance may initiate the progressivelogon by establishing a display and may prompt for initial user inputvia the user device. For example, the user may have access to keyboard,mouse, and basic display functions via the second receiver instance.

At step 960, the second receiver instance may transmit, to the VDA, alist of virtual channels and capabilities of the user device. Forexample, the user device may be associated with an audio virtualchannel, a multimedia virtual channel, a touch virtual channel, aThinwire graphics virtual channel, an independent software vendor (ISV)virtual channel, and the like. The second receiver may also load,depending on capabilities of the second receiver instance, a pluralityof VC modules associated with the virtual channels.

At step 965, the VDA may transmit, to hosts of the VC modules, a sessionreconnect event.

At step 970, the virtual channels may be reopened and their capabilitiesmay be renegotiated over their respective VC protocols. This may allowthe second receiver instance to progressively logon to additional HDXfeatures beyond the display and initial prompt for user input. Forexample, this may allow the second receiver instance to launch featuressuch as client device mapping (CDM), universal serial bus (USB),multimedia features, audio features, printing capability, drag and dropfeatures, and the like. The VDA may also determine, based on thetransmission at step 960, the user device capabilities. By loading basicfeatures upfront at step 955, the method described herein may improveuser interactions with desktop virtualization programs and decreasedelay time caused by initial loading of platform and/or receiverspecific features.

At step 975, a determination may be made regarding whether anotherreceiver instance is attempting to connect to the secure session. Ifnot, the method 900 may end. If so, the method 900 may return to step915, and a user may attempt to launch the web link, the publishedapplication with content, or the new published application. In someexamples, the first receiver instance may attempt to reestablish thesecure session. In other examples, a new receiver instance may attemptto reestablish the secure session.

Although steps 905-975 are shown in one example order in FIG. 9, steps905-975 need not all be performed in the order specified and some stepsmay be omitted or changed in order. The method 900 may be a recursivemethod that continuously repeats. The method 900 may be repeated in fullor in part.

FIG. 10 depicts an example method 1000 for establishing andreestablishing a secure session via an asynchronous launch in accordancewith one or more illustrative aspects described herein. The examplemethod 1000 may comprise an extended version of the method 800,described above. Referring to FIG. 10, at step 1005, a secure sessionmay be pre-launched between a first receiver instance and a virtualdelivery agent VDA. Actions performed at step 1005 may be similar tothose described above with regard to step 805.

At step 1010, after performing the session pre-launch, the firstreceiver instance may persist the protocol state for the first receiverinstance, established at step 1005, for the first receiver instance.Actions performed at step 1010 may be similar to those described abovewith regard to step 810.

At step 1015, once the first receiver instance has persisted theprotocol state, a user device may receive an instruction to launch thesecure session comprising one of a web link, a published applicationwith content, a new published application, and the like. Actionsperformed at step 1015 may be similar to those described above withregard to step 815.

At step 1017, the VDA may determine whether an asynchronous launchshould be performed. This may depend on capabilities of the device,anticipated connection time, the content to be loaded, and the like. Ifan asynchronous launch should be performed, the VDA may proceed to step1020 to launch the web link, the published application with content, orthe new published application. For example, the VDA may launch thecontent in parallel with the process of re-establishing the securesession. If an asynchronous launch should not be performed, the method1000 may proceed to step 1025 without performing the methods describedat step 1020.

At step 1020, prior to re-establishing the secure session, initiallyestablished at step 1005, between a second receiver instance and theVDA, content, such as a web page, may be loaded in a backend of the userdevice. In this example, the content may load before the second receiverinstance establishes the secure session. In some examples, the VDA maysecurely prelaunch a secure session, such as an HDX session, along withan initial application with optional content. The VDA may also connectto the gateway computing platform based on a brokering instruction toprepare for a secure session. In this example, the VDA may not wait forthe second receiver instance to connect to the gateway computingplatform before establishing a connection with the gateway computingplatform. As a result, the secure session may have already launched andloaded the content by the time the second receiver instancere-establishes the secure session with the VDA. For example, a user mayattempt to load a web page via a second instance of an internet browser.The VDA may load the web page in the secure session. Then, by the timethe second instance of the internet browser actually establishes thesecure session with the VDA, the web page may already be loaded.Launching the content at step 1020 may be responsive to launching thesecure session at step 1015.

At step 1025, once the user device attempts to access the securesession, the first receiver instance may share, with a second receiverinstance, the protocol state for the first receiver instance persistedabove at step 1010. Actions performed at step 1025 may be similar tothose described above with regard to step 810.

At step 1030, after receiving the protocol state of the first receiverinstance, the second receiver instance may perform a transportreconnect, and be re-authenticated to the gateway computing platform andsecure session. Actions performed at step 1030 may be similar to thosedescribed above with regard to step 825.

At step 1035, the second receiver instance may suspend network activityfor a predetermined period of time. Actions performed at step 1035 maybe similar to those described above with regard to step 830.

At step 1040, once the network activity has been suspended at step 1035,the second receiver instance may perform, using the protocol state ofthe first receiver instance, an in-application recreation of theprotocol state of the first receiver instance, resulting in a protocolstate of the second receiver instance. Actions performed at step 1040may be similar to those described above with regard to step 835.

At step 1045, after creation of the protocol state for the secondreceiver instance at step 1040, the second receiver instance may resumenetwork activity and the CGP protocol. Actions performed at step 1045may be similar to those described above with regard to step 840.

At step 1050, after resuming normal network activity and the CGPprotocol at step 1045, the second receiver instance may reset an ICAreducer compression state via a new ICA protocol command. The secondreceiver instance may also reset an ICA stack protocol header overhead,which may depend on a type of transport used. Actions performed at step1050 may be similar to those described above with regard to step 845.

At step 1053, the VDA may determine whether the web link, the publishedapplication with content, or the new published app launched by the userat step 1015 have been launched on the VDA. If they have not beenlaunched at the VDA, the method may proceed to step 1055 to launch theweb link, the published application with content, or the new publishedapplication at step 1055. If they were previously launched at step 1020,the method 1000 may end.

Although steps 1005-1055 are shown in one example order in FIG. 10,steps 1005-1055 need not all be performed in the order specified andsome steps may be omitted or changed in order. The method 1000 may be arecursive method that continuously repeats. The method 1000 may berepeated in full or in part.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example virtual mobile application launch, asdescribed above at step 820 and in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein. For example, a user may want toestablish, using a mobile device 1140, a secure session and launchmultiple applications. These applications may comprise instances of HDXSDK mobile applications, such as first instance of HDX mobileapplication 1110 and a second instance HDX mobile application 1120. Inthis example, the first instance of HDX mobile application 1110 mayshare, with the second instance of HDX mobile application 1120, and viaan OS key chain or an MDX shared secret vault 1130, a protocol state ofthe first instance and a plurality of authentication tokens used toestablish a connection between the first instance of HDX mobileapplication 1110 and a gateway computing platform or VDA. The firstinstance of the HDX mobile application 1110 may share the protocol stateof the first instance and the plurality of authentication tokens via atransmission 1250. The second instance of the HDX mobile application1120 may generate, based on the protocol state of the first HDX mobileapplication, a protocol state of the second HDX mobile application, andmay use the protocol state of the second HDX mobile application tore-establish the secure session. The HDX SDK mobile applications may bemanaged with one of mobile application management (MAM), mobile devicemanagement (MDM), or a combination of MDM and MAM. The HDX SDK mobileapplications may be signed by a shared profile.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example virtual launch of HTML5 receiverinstances, as described above at step 820 and in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects described herein. For example, a user may beinteracting with a browser 1240. The user may be working within a firstbrowser tab using a first HTML5 receiver instance 1210. In response to arequest to launch a second instance of HTML5 receiver 1220 in a secondbrowser tab, the first HTML5 receiver instance may store, via acommunication 1350, a protocol state of the first HTML5 receiverinstance 1210 and authentication tokens associated with the protocolstate of the first HTML5 receiver instance 1210 in a local browserstorage 1230. The second HTML5 receiver instance may then access theprotocol state of the first HTML5 receiver instance and the associatedauthentication tokens. The second HTML5 receiver instance may compriseone of a new instance of an HTML5 receiver or an existing HTML receiverinstance in a browser tab that may be brought into focus. The secondHTML5 receiver 1220 instance may generate, based on the protocol stateof the first HTML5 receiver instance, a protocol state of the secondHTML5 receiver, and may use the protocol state of the second HTML5receiver to re-establish the secure session.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are described asexample implementations of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: transmitting, from a firstvirtual desktop instance to a second virtual desktop instance, a firstpersisted protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance for asecure session; re-establishing, using the first persisted protocolstate, the secure session, wherein re-establishing the secure sessioncomprises re-establishing the secure session between a virtual deliveryagent (VDA) and the second virtual desktop instance; identifying whetherall protocol states of the first virtual desktop instance have beenpersisted; and based on identifying that at least one protocol state ofthe first virtual desktop instance has not been persisted, initiating aprogressive login process at a user device, wherein performing theprogressive login process comprises: transmitting, using the secondvirtual desktop instance and to the VDA, a list of virtual channels ofthe user device, wherein the virtual channels of the user device areopened based on a session reconnect event from the VDA, andprogressively launching, by the second virtual desktop instance, usingthe virtual channels, one or more additional session featurescorresponding to the at least one protocol state.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising: based on identifying that all of the protocolstates of the first virtual desktop instance have been persisted,loading all features corresponding to the secure session.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein performing the progressive login process furthercomprises transmitting, using the second virtual desktop instance and tothe VDA, a list of capabilities of the user device.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein performing the progressive login process furthercomprises: loading, by the second virtual desktop instance, one or morevirtual channel modules corresponding to the virtual channels, and wherethe VDA transmits, to hosts of the one or more virtual channel modules,a session reconnect event.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:launching, via the second virtual desktop instance, at least one of aweb link, a published application with content, or a new publishedapplication.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing,by the first virtual desktop instance, the secure session with the VDA,resulting in a protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance; andpersisting, using the first virtual desktop instance, the protocolstate, resulting in the first persisted protocol state.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the persisting the protocol state of the first virtualdesktop instance comprises: recording, to a stored file, a networkconversation between the first virtual desktop instance and the VDA,wherein the second virtual desktop instance has access to the storedfile.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the protocol state of the firstvirtual desktop instance is embedded in the first virtual desktopinstance.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating,using authentication tokens comprising the first persisted protocolstate, a connection between the second virtual desktop instance and agateway device.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:performing, prior to the authenticating and by the second virtualdesktop instance, a transport reconnect; suspending, by the secondvirtual desktop instance and for a predetermined period of time, networkactivity; and generating, offline, by the second virtual desktopinstance, and based on the first persisted protocol state of the firstvirtual desktop instance, a protocol state for the second virtualdesktop instance.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure sessioncomprises a high definition experience (HDX) session.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first persisted protocol state comprises anindependent computing architecture (ICA) protocol state, a secure ticketauthority (STA) ticket, and a common gateway protocol (CGP) cookie. 13.The method of claim 1, wherein the first virtual desktop instancecomprises an HTML5 receiver hosted and managed by a cloud service, andwherein the second virtual desktop instance comprises an HTML5 receiverhosted by a client endpoint and managed by the cloud service.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein transmitting, from the first virtual desktopinstance to the second virtual desktop instance, the first persistedprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance comprisestransmitting, from the first virtual desktop instance and to the secondvirtual desktop instance, an ICA file comprising the first persistedprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first virtual desktop instance comprises a firstinstance of a high definition experience (HDX) software development kit(SDK)-based mobile application, and wherein the second virtual desktopinstance comprises a second instance of the HDX SDK-based mobileapplication.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, from thefirst virtual desktop instance to the second virtual desktop instance,the first persisted protocol state of the first virtual desktop instancecomprises transmitting, via one of an operating system (OS) key chain ora mobile device experience (MDX) shared secret vault, the firstpersisted protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance from thefirst virtual desktop instance to the second virtual desktop instance.17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first virtual desktop instancecomprises a first instance of HTML5 receiver running in a first browsertab and displaying a first HDX application and wherein the secondvirtual desktop instance comprises a second instance of HTML5 receiverrunning in a second browser tab and displaying a second HDX application.18. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, from the first virtualdesktop instance to the second virtual desktop instance, the firstpersisted protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance comprisesstoring, by the first virtual desktop instance, the first persistedprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance to a local browserstorage and accessing, by the second virtual desktop instance and viathe local browser storage, the first persisted protocol state of thefirst virtual desktop instance.
 19. A computing platform, comprising: atleast one processor; a communication interface communicatively coupledto the at least one processor; and memory storing computer-readableinstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causethe computing platform to: transmit, from a first virtual desktopinstance to a second virtual desktop instance, a first persistedprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance for a securesession; re-establish, using the first persisted protocol state, thesecure session, wherein re-establishing the secure session comprisesre-establishing the secure session between a virtual delivery agent(VDA) and the second virtual desktop instance; identify whether allprotocol states of the first virtual desktop instance have beenpersisted; and based on identifying that at least one protocol state ofthe first virtual desktop instance has not been persisted, initiate aprogressive login process at a user device, wherein performing theprogressive login process comprises: transmitting, using the secondvirtual desktop instance and to the VDA, a list of virtual channels ofthe user device, wherein the virtual channels of the user device areopened based on a session reconnect event from the VDA, andprogressively launching, by the second virtual desktop instance, usingthe virtual channels, one or more additional session featurescorresponding to the at least one protocol state.
 20. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, whenexecuted by a computing platform comprising at least one processor,memory, and a communication interface, cause the computing platform to:transmit, from a first virtual desktop instance to a second virtualdesktop instance, a first persisted protocol state of the first virtualdesktop instance for a secure session; re-establish, using the firstpersisted protocol state, the secure session, wherein re-establishingthe secure session comprises re-establishing the secure session betweena virtual delivery agent (VDA) and the second virtual desktop instance;identify whether all protocol states of the first virtual desktopinstance have been persisted; and based on identifying that at least oneprotocol state of the first virtual desktop instance has not beenpersisted, initiate a progressive login process at a user device,wherein performing the progressive login process comprises:transmitting, using the second virtual desktop instance and to the VDA,a list of virtual channels of the user device, wherein the virtualchannels of the user device are opened based on a session reconnectevent from the VDA, and progressively launching, by the second virtualdesktop instance, using the virtual channels, one or more additionalsession features corresponding to the at least one protocol state.